


Old Love, New Circumstances

by VampirePaladin



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Buffy is a Starfleet Officer, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/M, Gen, Reunions, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-02-13 14:03:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21495493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VampirePaladin/pseuds/VampirePaladin
Summary: Buffy Summers comes to her old friend James T. Kirk with information about a vampire on board the Enterprise
Relationships: James T. Kirk/Buffy Summers
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11
Collections: Buffy Flash 2019





	Old Love, New Circumstances

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LittleRaven](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleRaven/gifts).

As Buffy Summers materialized in the Enterprise’s transporter room, she was greeted not just with the sight of the transporter operator, but James T. Kirk. He was standing there, older than she last saw him, but he still had that spark from their time in the Academy together.

“Welcome aboard, Captain Summers,” Jim said as he smiled at her. “Congratulations on the promotion.”

“Thank you, Captain Kirk,” Buffy said warmly as she stepped down the steps. “I almost didn’t recognize you without a stack of books.”

They’d been close in the Academy, almost inseparable. At first, they’d been friends, helping each other in getting through the Academy as well as working together on Buffy’s _hobby_. Then later they’d dated. It wasn’t that they exactly broke up, it was just that their careers took them in different directions, and neither would ask the other to give up everything they’d worked toward.

“We’re due to rendezvous with the USS Alonso Pacheco in a week. I hope your stay on the Enterprise is a comfortable one. I can show you to your quarters,” Jim said.

“Thank you.”

The two of them headed out the doors. As soon as they were away from the operator and in the corridor, Buffy looked left and right, making sure there was no one around.

Buffy dropped her smile and took a more serious expression. “Jim, there’s a vampire on the Enterprise.”

“That’s impossible. I make sure that every crew member is exposed to sunlight whenever we are in orbit around a star.” Jim’s own expression was more serious now. He’d almost been expelled at least once when helping Buffy. 

Buffy shook her head. “We found out that a vampire is only effected by the light of their own sun. If it’s a different sun it will only mildly discomfort them.”

Jim frowned and crossed his arms. Few in Starfleet knew of vampires. Jim only knew about it because he was classmates with the Slayer.

“What do you propose?”

“We need to do this discretely. If the vampire finds out we are after them they could make things worse. Is there any way you can have each crew member checked for a heartbeat?”

Jim nodded his head. “We resupplied a few days ago. Some of the food was contaminated. I’ll use that to order examinations of crew members for parasites.”

“Whoever is giving the exams will be in danger of being turned.”

“I’ll have my Chief Medical Officer Dr. McCoy administer it. I can trust him not to arouse suspicion.”

* * *

“Are you out of your mind?” Bones demanded of Jim as they spoke in the privacy of the briefing room.

“I’m completely serious. I want you to check each man and woman for a heartbeat, while you claim you’re checking for parasites. If they don’t have one act natural and contact me.” Jim wasn’t expecting Bones to take this order blindly, but he also knew that if it came down to it, that Bones would give Jim the benefit of the doubt.

Bones shook his head in disbelief. “If I didn’t know you better, I’d order you a psych eval.”

Jim smiled. “So, you’ll do it?”

“Fine, but I want an explanation of this when it’s all over.”

* * *

Buffy walked through the halls of the Enterprise. She was acting like a lost guest, when actually she was looking for the vampire. At least she knew Jim wasn’t a vampire, she’d checked him while they spoke.

She passed by a lieutenant from operations. He was walking in a hurry. Buffy pressed her lips together. The only thing in the direction he was coming from was additional storage for sick bay. Medicine, vaccines, inoculation, even old-fashioned tools like staples, glue and thread would be kept there. 

Maybe he had a job to do in there. Maybe he liked being left alone. Maybe he was getting high. Maybe he was a vampire going there to drink the medical blood.

Buffy went into the storage room and began to search. At first it wasn’t obvious that anyone had been here. But she found a plasteel tub that had been reopened and carefully resealed. Just like Buffy thought, it was the medical blood.

She turned around and hurried out, hoping she was in time to find the lieutenant.

* * *

“Sickbay to Captain Kirk.”

Jim hit the button of the console on his chair. “Kirk here.”

“We have a patient with the symptoms you asked about,” said Bones. His concern was heard through the filter of the ship’s communication systems.

“Are they still in sickbay?” Jim asked, leaning forward in his chair.

"Yes, but they are growing agitated."

“Keep them there. Kirk out.” Jim hit a button to cut the connection and then hit another. “Captain Kirk to Captain Summers, meet me at sickbay.”

“Captain?” Spock asked. Anyone else wouldn’t have noticed the slight tilt in Spock’s voice, but Jim had known his closest friend for long enough that he heard the mix of concern, curiosity, and trust in that one word.

“Spock, you have the com. Have you ever considered reading Carmilla and Dracula?” Jim suggested. 

“Understood,” Spock said, getting the message.

* * *

Jim and Buffy met together outside of sickbay. She reached down and pulled out the stake that had been hidden inside her tall boot.

“Do you always carry a stake?” Jim asked.

“Never leave home without it. Besides, it doesn’t set off the transporter’s weapon detection algorithms,” Buffy said with a smirk.

“Slayers first,” Jim said. He was fit and well trained, but he was only capable of his natural limits, Buffy could surpass the natural limits. It only made sense for her to go in first and for him to support her the best he could.

The door opened and Buffy went in first, followed by Jim.

An unconscious nurse was on the floor. The lieutenant held Bones in his grasp, his lips pressed to Bones’ neck, blood dribbling down.

Buffy launched a powerful kick at the lieutenant. He loosened his grip on Bones enough for Jim to pull the doctor away, checking for a pulse, which he found. With Bones free, Buffy staked the vampire, turning him to dust.

* * *

“I’m sorry about Lieutenant Grande,” Buffy said as she and Jim watched the stars through a viewing window.

“I’ve noted in my log that he died in the line of duty and should be given full honors.” It reminded him too much of what happened with Gary Mitchell and Elizabeth Dehner. What happened to them wasn’t their fault, just like what happened to Lieutenant Grande wasn’t his fault.

“You’re going to have to inform his family,” Buffy said. Her voice was somber.

“I am. I’ve already started the letter.”

“Is it hard?” 

Jim turned and looked at her. “You’ve lost people when fighting vampires before.”

“But losing someone as a captain, that’s different.” Buffy watched as the USS Alonso Pacheco slid into view. It wasn’t just the ship that she was going to be traveling on next, it was her ship, her first command.

“It never gets easy, but I think about how what I say might be the last thing their family might hear about their loved one.”

“Jim,” Buffy said as she turned her head.

“Buffy,” he said.

They looked into each other’s eyes. He made the first move and kissed her. It wasn’t the same as when they kissed as cadets, after the rush of stopping the latest vampire plot to drown the world in blood. They’d both grown and changed in their time apart. They were wiser, stronger, and so much more.

“You know we are the same rank and we don’t serve together,” Buffy said.

“How about dinner together the next time the Enterprise and the Alonso Pacheco are in port together?” Jim asked. Neither could leave what they had worked so hard for to be with the other, but in a way maybe that worked out for the best for the two of them. 

“It’s a date.”

Jim took Buffy’s hand and kissed her fingers.

“Good luck, Captain Summers.”

“Good luck, Captain Kirk.”


End file.
